The present invention relates to disposable cleaning tools. More particularly, the present invention describes an economical disposable cleaning pad with desired dust wiping and trapping capability, as well as a handle.
Cleaning articles of the hand duster type are typically used in households for dusting furniture, decorative articles, and the like. These cleaning articles can either be as simple as a single dusting cloth or may have a fluffy cleaning pad or brush portion made of one or more sheets for wiping off the dust from the surface of the object to be cleaned. The cloth or pad is sometimes attached to a handle, allowing the user to clean places which are hard to reach.
Different types of hand dusters are manufactured and are available in the market. One of the most commonly used hand dusters is one with a brush portion made of fibers. The fibers in the brush increase the dust trapping ability of the cleaning article.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,145,787, issued to Bastian et al., discloses a hand duster comprising a relatively large fluffy spherical shaped head, a handle and a wire means to retain the head towards one end of the handle. The head consists of a very large number of fine, flexible, coextensively juxtaposed fibers extending from a central region of the head. However, since the head portion of the described duster has only fibers, it is not very durable. Fibers in the head portion may get entangled or curled during the cleaning process. As a result, the head portion gets compressed and the duster becomes less effective during continued use.
In another type of a cleaning article, the brush portion is made up of twisted yarns of cotton or like materials. The twisted yarns trap dust more efficiently when an adhesive oil agent, such as liquid paraffin, is applied to their surface. Moreover, these yarns are costly and hence the cleaning articles made of twisted yarns are not an economical choice for cleaning articles which are to be disposed of after one use.
Cleaning articles having laminated non-woven fabric sheets are also currently manufactured. In these cleaning articles, one or more such sheets are laminated and their peripheral portions are unattached to each other, keeping these portions loose to wipe the surface of the object to be cleaned.
In another variation of these cleaning articles, the peripheral portions are cut to form a duster portion having long strips. Since non-woven fabrics are good for wiping dust and are also not very expensive, these fabrics are suitable raw materials for making disposable cleaning articles. However, the cleaning articles formed in such a manner are flat and hence the desired dust trapping capability is not optimized.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,801, issued to Tanaka et al., discloses a cleaning article having a brush portion. The brush portion of the described cleaning article is provided with two or more non-woven sheets and fiber bundle layers. In some embodiments of the cleaning articles, the non-woven sheets are provided with strips which are described as increasing the rigidity of the brush portion and preventing entanglement of the fibers. However, the use of a large number of sheets as a constituent not only increases the manufacturing cost and inventory overhead of the cleaning article, but also complicates the manufacturing process.
As mentioned above, various types of cleaning articles are currently being manufactured and sold. However, a need exists for a disposable cleaning article that is less expensive to manufacture and has optimal dust wiping and trapping capability.
It is therefore desirable to make disposable cleaning articles using simplified manufacturing process steps, and hence to reduce the manufacturing cost and provide an economical and durable disposable cleaning article with the desired dust wiping and trapping capability.